1 Thessalonians 1:8

8. On the other hand, אACDGP, &c., latt vg, insert εν τῃ before Αχαιᾳ, copying 1 Thessalonians 1:7; while B 17 37 47 sah cop preserve the shorter reading. On the grammatical difference see Expository Note.

εχειν ημας (in this order): all pre-Syrian uncials; B* reads υμας, as in next note.

8. ἀφʼ ὑμῶν γὰρ ἐξήχηται ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου. For from you hath rung out the word of the Lord: ὥσπερ σάλπιγγος λαμπρὸν ἠχούσης ὁ πλησίον ἅπας πληροῦται τόπος (Chrysostom); longe lateque sonitus (Estius); exsonuit, sive ebuccinatus est (Erasmus). The verb ἐξηχέω—a hap. legomenon for N.T.—belongs to later Greek; used in Joel 3:14 (LXX., in military context), Sir 40:13 (of thunder), it denotes a loud, resonant sound, like a trumpet-call. Ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου, while redolent of O.T. associations (cf. Romans 10:18; Psalms 18:5), denotes here, definitely, the message which “the Lord” Jesus (1 Thessalonians 1:6) speaks through His servants: cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:15; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; Colossians 3:16; Romans 1:5. This reference is perfectly congruous with 1 Thessalonians 2:2; 1 Thessalonians 2:13, for “the Lord” authoritatively brings word from God to men (John 17:8, &c.); it accords with πίστις πρὸς τὸν θεόν in the sequel, for Christ’s word brings men to God (cf. Ephesians 2:17 f.; John 14:6, &c.). The effect, rather than the mere fact, of the conversion of the Thessalonians made the Good News “ring out from” them (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:6; cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:10; 2 Thessalonians 1:3 f.).

The range of this sound is widened from “the Macedonia and Achaia” of 1 Thessalonians 1:7 (the provinces being here united, as one area, by the single ἐν τῇ)—οὐ μόνον ἐν τῇ Μακεδονίᾳ καὶ Ἀχαίᾳ, ἀλλʼ ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ; and with this enlargement of the field in view the main assertion is restated—ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἐξελήλυθεν. This results in a curious anacoluthon, to which no exact parallel is forthcoming; it gives a sense natural and clear enough, as presented in the English Version. To this construction most interpreters, with Ellicott, Lightfoot, Schmiedel, WH, adhere. But Calvin, Hofmann, Bornemann, and others, divide the verse by a colon at κυρίου: “For from you hath rung out the word of the Lord; not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith toward God hath gone abroad”—which makes an awkward asyndeton, out of keeping in a paragraph so smoothly continuous as this (see Note introd. to 1 Thessalonians 1:3). Ἐξελήλυθεν is synonymous with ἐξήχηται (minus the figure), while ἡ πίστις κ.τ.λ. is practically equivalent to ὁ λόγος τοῦ κυρίου, since the Gospel has spread in this manner by the active faith of the readers (ἡ πίστις ὑμῶν); such faith is “the word of the Lord” in effect: cf. 2 Corinthians 3:3; Philippians 2:15 f.; Matthew 5:14-16. What the Apostle affirms in this sense of the Thessalonians, he questions, in another sense, of the Corinthians: ἣ�ʼ ὑμῶν ὁ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθεν; (1 Corinthians 14:36).

ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ signifies “in every place (that we visit or communicate with”: see 1 Thessalonians 1:9 a); cf. 1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Timothy 2:8. Aquila and his wife had just come from Rome (Acts 18:2), and may have brought word that the story was current there; the charge of treason against Cæsar (Acts 17:7) would surely be reported at Rome. The three missionaries were, most likely, in correspondence with the Churches in Asia Minor, Antioch, and Jerusalem (cf. note on 2 Thessalonians 1:4), and had received congratulations from those distant spots. The commercial connexions of Thessalonica (see Introd. p. xi.) facilitated the dissemination of news. The work of St Paul and his companions here had made a great sensation and given a wide advertisement to Christianity; cf. Romans 1:8; Romans 16:19.

ἡ πίστις ἡ πρὸς τὸν θεόν. A unique expression, indicating the changed direction and attitude on the part of the readers, which 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 set forth—your faith, that is turned toward God: cf. 2 Corinthians 3:4; Philemon 1:5; and see note on 1 Thessalonians 3:4, for the force of πρός.

ὥστε μὴ χρείαν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς λαλεῖν τι. This report preceded the missionaries in their travels; they even found themselves anticipated in sending the news to distant correspondents. Χρείαν ἔχω with dependent infinitive recurs twice in this Epistle (1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:1),—only here in St. Paul; similarly in Matthew 3:14, &c.; the phrase is complemented by the infinitive with τοῦ in Hebrews 5:12; by ἵνα and subjunctive in John 2:25, &c. In Plato Sympos. 204 c it bears the opposite sense, to be of service; but see Aeschylus Prom. 169, ἐμοῦ … χρείαν ἕξει, for the use of this idiom in earlier Greek. Ὥστε μή and infinitive, of negative result contemplated; contrast ὥστε οὐ and indicative, of negative consequence asserted, in 1 Corinthians 3:7; Galatians 4:7. Λαλεῖν τι, loqui quidquam, to be saying anything—to open our mouths on the subject; cf. note on λαλῆσαι, 1 Thessalonians 2:2.

The ὥστε-clause is supported by the reassertive and explanatory γάρ of 1 Thessalonians 1:9, just as in the sequence of 1 Thessalonians 1:7-8.